Mechanical pool cleaners are typically classified as pressure-side cleaners or suction-side cleaners based on their connection to a pool pump. More specifically, suction-side pool cleaners are connected to a suction or inlet port of the pump, while pressure-side pool cleaners are connected to a pressure or outlet port of the pump. In both types, water is drawn or forced through the cleaner and mechanisms are provided to attempt to harvest energy from water movement through the cleaner in order to operate one or more functions of the cleaner (e.g., vacuuming, steering, etc.).
With respect to suction-side pool cleaners, a turbine or paddle wheel may be provided within a water flow passage to harvest energy from the water flow. Generally, design aspects of the paddle wheel are based on a tradeoff between performance and efficiency. For example, reducing the clearances between blades of the paddle wheel and the walls of the flow passage may increase efficiency by allowing the paddle wheel to harness more kinetic energy from the fluid flow. However, reduced clearance may detrimentally affect paddle wheel performance because debris may not be allowed to pass through the water flow passage, and/or may impede rotation of the paddle wheel. On the other hand, increasing the clearances may improve performance by allowing debris to pass through the passage without impeding the paddle wheel. In this instance, however, more fluid may flow through the larger clearances without providing kinetic energy to the paddle wheel, which may result in reduced efficiency.
One known pool cleaning system includes a number of paddle wheel blades that are pivotably mounted to the paddle wheel. When the blades pivot with respect to the paddle wheel, the clearance between the blades and the housing in which they rotate may change, which may allow larger debris to pass between the blades and the housing. The use of pivoting blades, however, may contribute to increased drag or reduced efficiency, or may increase the complexity of manufacturing or assembly of the cleaning system.
Another known pool cleaning system includes a paddle having a number of blades that collectively revolve around a central axis, but are each mounted, independently, on a rotating shaft extending radially outward from the central axis. The separate rotating shafts allow the individual blades to pivot with respect to their bulk movement around the central axis, which may allow debris to move past the individual blades. Such an arrangement, however, may significantly increase the complexity of manufacturing and assembly of the cleaning system, and may also decrease overall efficiency.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a pool cleaner that addresses one or more of the above deficiencies. For example, it would be desirable to have a pool cleaner with a paddle wheel mechanism that allows debris to pass in a manner that does not clog or otherwise obstruct the pool cleaner, while also providing an efficient pool cleaner with relatively low complexity of manufacturing, assembly, or maintenance.